Google might want to improve its timing a bit. You see, the search giant has released the source code for its Santa Tracker apps... in April. In other words, right when the snow has finished melting in many corners of the world. That's a little too late (or alternately, too soon) to help create holiday apps, Google. As you might gather, though, the festive theme is beside the point. The open source content is really meant to show how the folks in Mountain View make a lively website that works on everything from phones to desktops, not to mention a host of Android games and smartwatch faces. Hopefully, you'll see at least a few apps and sites in the near future that have an extra amount of polish, whether or not Kris Kringle is involved.

The Christmas tree is kindling, the HoneyBaked ham is destined for two slices of white bread and, with any luck, you've already wiped your old devices to make way for new ones. For most of us, the annual gift giving spree is over and while we can think of a veritable feast of gadgets and gizmos we'd be happy to receive, we're curious to find out what you got (and gave) over the holidays. So, follow us into the comments for our annual post-holiday show and tell.

You know what goes really well together? Christmas and video games. This year we've noticed a bit of a trend: games giving away free stuff in light of the holiday. Weather, err, whether it's snow covering Los Santos in GTA Online, a six-hour trial of Madden or online multiplayer for Killer Instinct Classic, there's no shortage of goodies to keep your console (maybe you recently unwrapped a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One?) busy for the next few days. Let's recap, shall we? In addition to the aforementioned inclement weather southern San Andreas is experiencing, for a limited time you can don a gingerbread mask in GTA Online and start lethal snowball fights in addition to getting a few unspecified gifts for your inventory tomorrow.

Still searching for the perfect ugly sweater for your holiday festivities? You may want to consider using your phone to help with the task. A collection of ten sweaters available from the folks at MorphCostumes have a built-in pockets for that trusty handset. But wait, there's more! With a free app for iOS and Android, the garment's design becomes an animated piece of seasonal art. Of course, "Peeking Santa Claus" (pictured) is a bit on the creepy side, but I digress. It turns out an ex-NASA engineer helped with the project's first round of goods last year, and the series was so popular a reboot was in order. If you're anxious to animate your office party attire, the sweaters are available now for $60 each.

It's safe to say Goat Simulator has become a cherished part of video game culture. Now GAME is hoping to tap into some of that indie magic with a parody simulation title of its own. It's called Christmas Shopper Simulator and, well, it's a bit rubbish. The game dumps your rag-doll character in a generic British shopping centre, filled with pun-riddled shops such as "Scroungeland" and "Texas Raincoat Massacre." Sprint to the top floor and you'll even find an "Amazombie" store with the slogan "powered by a heartless algorithm." There are missions and barmy achievements to complete, but GAME knows you'll probably have more fun hurling presents at unsuspecting shoppers and generally running riot. That's why it's a free download for PC and Mac, meaning you can save your hard-earned cash for a proper video game this Christmas.

It's the festive season, and one company that's in a generous mood is Taylor Swift'sfavorite streaming service. If you're not already a Spotify user, then the outfit is hoping to lure you in by offering three months of its premium service for just 99 cents if you sign up before the end of the month. It's a bit of a no-brainer, given that you get better sound quality, offline playback and, best of all, no ads. At the same time, Spotify has revealed the most popular music of 2014, showing that Pharell's Happy was the most streamed song, while Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry took the gongs for most popular male and female artists.

If you're looking to keep an eye on ol' St. Nick ahead of his annual journey, Google can lend a hand. This year's version of Mountain View's Santa Tracker is live and ready to help keep tabs on all the prep work. Up until the red-clad fellow departs later this month, games and scenes will be added to his village regularly -- including location-specific bits so you can read up on traditions in other places. Of course, on December 24th, you'll be able to follow Mr. Kringle's globetrotting in real time. If you happen to be away from a computer, monitor the latest happenings via Android app, mobile site or on your Chromecast-equipped TV.

You're on a date at TGI Friday's, casually sipping your discount cocktail, trying to ignore the disappointed look on your partner's face as they attempt to cut into their overcooked steak. As if this situation wasn't awkward enough, the smooth sounds of the Billboard 100 playlist are interrupted by a high-pitched whining. A lone quadrocopter hovers above, dangling a collection of stale mistletoe leaves. Looking to make the best of a bad situation, you lean in for a kiss. Before you know it, it's profiteroles for one.

With just over a month until Christmas, brands are firing up their festive marketing campaigns to extract as much money as they can out of consumers. It looked as if John Lewis had the 2014 ad title all sewn up when Monty the penguin first waddled onto our TV screens, but responses, from Sainsbury's in particular, have made it far from a forgone conclusion. In times gone by, John Lewis would just take out newspaper ads or takeover a billboard to keep its campaign at the forefront of the public's mind, but this year it's utilising a clever, mobile first, strategy.

Everything unwrapped? Everything you ever wanted? We'll admit, our own present pile has a certain tech trend, but how did you fare? Did you manage to snag one of those next-generationconsoles? Perhaps you've landed your first ever tablet. Happy? Excited? A little confused that your micro-USB cable doesn't fit? Let us know what you found under the Christmas tree in our forum -- or in the comments below. And if your gifted gadget isn't quite working how it should, have you tried turning it off and on again?

Microsoft may have NORAD's blessing for its Santa Claus monitoring, but Google has a few tricks of its own this year. The search giant's latest Santa Tracker centers on an updated Android app (launching mid-December) with Chromecast TV streaming support -- you'll soon get to follow St. Nick from the comfort of your living room. If you'd prefer to keep tabs on him from the web, the company is promising both daily game and scene updates as well as a refreshed Chrome extension. Head to the source links if you'd like to explore Google's take on the Christmas spirit.

NORAD's Santa Claus tracking has officially entered the tablet era. The defense agency has teamed up with Microsoft on an updated web-based tracker that's designed for touch-friendly browsers, including Internet Explorer 11. The new site lets you follow St. Nick by spinning a WebGL-powered globe with your finger, and you can even call NORAD through Skype to get the sleigh's latest position. You won't have to wait until Christmas Eve to have fun, either, as Microsoft promises a daily dose of games, movies and music. Those who want to surveil Santa can visit NORAD's page today, while Windows 8 and Windows Phone users can also grab native tracking apps through their respective stores.

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Did this Christmas' Netflix outage have you and yours "bah humbuging" whilst picking through that collection of physical discs for solace? Fret no more, as the apparent Amazon Web Services outage behind the problem (which brought the service down on many-a-device) is now a officially a mark in Christmas Past. Within the last hour, Netflix announced via its Twitter accounts that its Instant Watch offerings are now "back to normal streaming levels." While it's not exactly a Christmas miracle, we're sure many are delighted to finally be viewing Hollywood's versions of holiday cheer on their newly-unwrapped gizmos.

Is it the best day ever? A close second? If you're able to take two seconds and spend a few quality moments with a few folks you love, it'll probably be tough to complain either way. But 'round here, it's pretty common for us to ask for something electronic on December 25th. Did you manage to unwrap a new phone? Tablet? Ultrabook? Or, for those who prefer to give, what kind of gadgetry did you bestow upon that special someone? Let us know in comments below -- and remember, go easy on any customer service reps you end up phoning today.

Sure, Google's not in the Santa Tracking NORAD cabal anymore, but that's not stopping it from rolling out St. Nicholas-related goodies. It just launched a series of new games, including a chimney / gift dropping challenge, a rocket-powered elf race and a Santa chat that lets you send a droll holiday greeting to your "hoodlum besties." You can even play Rudolph for a lark and drag Santa around in his sleigh -- badly, in our case -- so check the source (hint: click the red box at the bottom left) for some holiday cheer, Mountain View-style.

Sometimes even Santa Claus needs help. Thankfully, the jolly fat guy's got one of our favorite modders on his side. We visited Ben Heck's Madison, Wisconsin workshop a few weeks ago for an Engadget Show segment and got to watch as the master put together a special holiday-themed project, the Naughty or Nice Meter, a big candy cane-accented box that'll help tired parents "keep the kids in line" this holiday season. The box itself is actually a mostly hollow shell, with an Arduino, TI LaunchPad and a few other select components in the rear that communicate with a specialized app, letting the parent in question adjust the needle based on their kids' behavior. Nothing like a little manipulative fun in the spirit of the holidays! Check out our segment on Mr. Heckendorn just after the jump and click on through the source link to find out how to make a Naughty or Nice meter or your very own.Gallery-173971

Gift-giving is a beautiful thing, but it inevitably sets precedents. Last Christmas, Google's employees were each handed a customized Galaxy Nexus to take home, which means they'll be expecting something just as nice this year. One solution would be the Nexus 4, but Mountain View is far too smart to let its festive joy hinge on LG's supply chain. Instead, it's apparently taking the safer route of letting workers choose for themselves: either the excellent Nexus 7 (it's not clear which capacity, but we'd guess 32GB) or a wonderful new Samsung Chromebook, or a recently Jelly BeanedRAZR M. So go on, tell us, if all the right hypotheticals were in place, which would you pick?

When many are increasingly conscious of how their lighting impacts the environment, Christmas tree lights can feel like giant bundles of excess energy consumption. We're not advocating that anyone shelve a centuries-old tradition, but we've noticed a growing trend towards alternatives that help save the Earth... at least, if you don't mind cutting a tree down. Take Electric Pedals' two new trees outside London's Southbank Centre, for example: ten pairs of pedals keep the Vivid Design Works installation shining through energy 'donated' by visitors. We've also seen an even larger pedal-driven tree in Beirut, Lebanon, and we're certain that others are lighting up the night as we speak without consuming more of the world's resources. The concept isn't new, as there's been foot-powered trees in recent years -- we'd just like it to see it spread.

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Wed, 05 Dec 2012 21:59:00 -050021|20395080http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/30/quadrocopters-don-creepy-eyes-build-synthetic-christmas-tree-of/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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First we let them play music, then they started juggling. Now quadrocopters are feeling emotions as well; namely, jealousy. One of Flying Machine Arena's dainty quadrocopters, nicknamed Juliet, was compelled to build its own synthetic Christmas tree after spying an authentic fir through a glass window. Sure, stacked bricks of festive foam seem innocent enough, but look into those ping-pong ball eyes and tell us you aren't a little worried that next year's "war on Christmas" will be the machine's war on humans. Fly past the break to see Juliet's envious construction project for yourself.

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Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:50:00 -050021|20137554http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/28/android-and-ios-share-a-merry-little-christmas-seven-million-to/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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Google's SVP of Mobile just provided us with another glimpse inside the horse's mouth, claiming that Android scored 3.7 million new device activations over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. To put that in context, Flurry reported that total Android and iOS activations on Christmas Day alone totaled 6.8 million. If we can accept a very high margin of error, and if we assume that the vast majority of Rubin's activations were on the 25th, then we might extrapolate a roughly even split between the two rival platforms. Considering where Android was just a couple of Christmas's ago, it's no wonder that Mr Rubin is in the tweeting mood.

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Wed, 28 Dec 2011 05:55:00 -050021|20136295http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/25/so-whatd-you-get/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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Yeah, it's pretty unfortunate that you've got to work tomorrow (well, unless you're down with Boxing Day), but let's take it one 24-hour window at a time, shall we? It's not as if you've had any shortage of gizmos to choose from this year, and while you aren't likely to get a Transformer Prime, there's plenty of other stocking stuffers to look forward to. Speaking of which, what'd you find under your tree this morning? A Kindle Fire? That new laptop you've been longing for? A few new cables to do... cable-y things with? Let us know in comments below, and be sure to press play on your way there. Hopefully that's not your kid.

Having conquered so many aspects of the software world, it's time for Google to take the next logical step in its evolution: becoming that annoying neighbor who always goes a bit overboard each year with the Christmas display. This time out, Google's doodle lets you play five notes of "Jingle Bells" manually, bringing down the lights and finishing up the song with a full-on holiday light show. Check it out, but don't blame us if your computer blows a fuse.

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Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:05:00 -050021|20134959http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/24/best-buy-rewards-your-procrastination-with-buy-one-get-one-iphon/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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Sure it's Christmas Eve and we're more than halfway through Hanukkah, but it's never too late to score some last minute deals -- and heck, why not get a little something for yourself, while you're at it? Best Buy wants to give you a free iPhone 4 for your impressive ability to hold out on holiday shopping for this long. Pick up a 32GB version of the last-gen handset with a two-year AT&T or Verizon plan, and the big box retailer will toss in a second (plus carrier fees, naturally). This is an in-store only sort of deal, and it's only good through close at 5PM tonight -- those folks in the blue polo shirts have families too, you know.